Timeloop? SPOILERS!

I've been trying to make sense of the ending of the movie, and I think it is not so much a time travel thing, more a timeloop scenario. For those who know the band Orbital, their first record opens with a sample, possibly from Star Trek, which says": there is the theory of the Moebius, a twist in the fabric of time when time becomes a loop". That's what the time masters did, twist the fabric of time, hence something unchronological happens, and old man unknowingly helps himself as a child survive 60 years ago through a hard time.

It's a great idea, but how could Jaffar know Silbad and Piel at the same time and both before the time shift? Also, why does Silbad die when Piel gets rescued? Is it just a coincidence or in a way does he die so that Piel can live in the present?

Basically, even if I suscribe to the timeloop theory, it's impossible to see where the loop start and end-point are. Other movies do that well too, it's a storytelling trick where in the end everything doesn't completely makes sense, and it leaves you with a sense of mystery and frustration that kind of make the greatness of the movie. There's another famous example of that, but I can't remember which movie I am thinking of at the moment.

Those damn time masters.